This year, just like the last, the Christmas season will arrive, and along with the holiday spirit will come its ever-present companion—holiday stress. No matter the reason for your stress; the expense of gifts, the lack of planning, long lines or short timelines, there is a better way.

What if you could skip the stress this year and enjoy the next holiday season for less money? Well, you can! The secret? Start planning now.

Here is an easy three-step method to start planning for the holidays early.

This year, just like the last, the Christmas season will arrive, and along with the holiday spirit will come its ever-present companion—holiday stress. No matter the reason for your stress; the expense of gifts, the lack of planning, long lines or short timelines, there is a better way. What if you could skip the stress this year and enjoy the next holiday season for less money? Well, you can! The secret? Start planning now. Here is an easy three-step method to start planning for the holidays early.

1. Create a holiday budget.

Now is the time to determine just how much you can save by December to go towards your holiday merrymaking. Look over your bills and budget and decide how much disposable income you can afford to save each paycheck. Take the amount you will save per paycheck times the number of paychecks you will get between now and Christmas. This should give you a complete holiday budget amount.

2. Make your lists.

The first thing you may think about when making lists is gifts, and that is undoubtedly a necessary list to make. You should, however, also make a list of any events you plan on hosting or attending as well as any décor you wish to buy.

Let’s break down the lists by topic.

a. Gift list: Make a list of the people you want to give gifts to. Try to keep it simple and remember that you don’t have to provide a gift for the mailman’s 2nd cousin. Also, if you have an extensive list, cards or homemade baked goods are cost-effective gifts for large groups.

b. Event List: This is where you will list all of the holiday events you are planning to host or attend and make sure to break it down into correlating costs. Anything you might need to attend such as a host gift, or pot luck item; and if you are hosting, list all food, drink, decoration and entertainment costs.

c. Décor: This list includes anything you buy to decorate your home for the holidays, and also consists of the wrappings and adornments you will use for your gifts. Anything you want to buy to complete the aesthetics of the holidays.

After you’ve made your lists, take the amount of money you budgeted for the holidays in step one and assign a dollar amount to each gift/event/décor item. Now, not only do you have a holiday budget, but now, you know exactly where your money is going.

3. Start saving.

Each payday, save the allotted amount that you determined in your budget in step 1. You can put the money in a savings account (but make sure it’s an account used strictly for your holiday savings) or put the cash away in a safe place. Once your savings starts growing, we recommend you shop a little at a time, knocking things off your list one by one rather than doing a huge shop, which could be stressful.

So now that we have discussed how, let’s discuss why. Why does planning for the holidays early reduce stress and save money? It’s simple really. Here are four critical ways.

1. Starting early reduces impulse buying and spending regret. When you have an allotted dollar amount, and you start early, you are more likely to put thought into your purchase and not overspend.

2. It frees up your holiday time. Holidays aren’t about the gifts and the decorations (although those are nice), it’s about spending time with loved ones. Planning for the holidays early, cuts out all the hustle and bustle and gives you time to make memories with those closest to you.

3. It allows you to save money over time and avoids the use of credit cards and loans, so you don’t have to pay interest and blow your budget.

4. It prevents overspending. When you follow the 3-step early planning guide above, you will have an exact dollar amount for each holiday element, thus protecting your budget and preventing overspending.

We hope this article has inspired you to start planning for the holidays now. After all, a little forethought today will save you a lot of stress and money when Christmas rolls around and will also allow you to enjoy more of your holiday season.